Villa Vassilieff

Villa Vassilieff, a new cul­tural estab­lish­ment owned by the City of Paris, opened its doors on February 2016 in the heart of Montparnasse, on the site of Marie Vassilieff’s former studio, which until 2013 housed the Musée du Montparnasse. It is run by Bétonsalon — Center for art and research, which is thus opening its second site of activ­i­ties. Villa Vassilieff is con­­ceived as a place for working and living, where to stim­u­late the blos­­soming of ideas, encoun­ters and the sharing of knowl­­edge.

Villa Vassilieff intends to recon­nect with the his­tory of its loca­tion by inviting artists and researchers to take a con­tem­po­rary look at the her­itage of Montparnasse. Our exhi­bi­tions and public pro­grams focus on exploring lesser-known resources and aim at re-writing and diver­si­fying his­tor­ical art nar­ra­tives.

Among many grant and res­i­dency oppor­tu­ni­ties, we joined forces with our leading sponsor Pernod Ricard to create the Pernod Ricard Fellowship, a res­i­dency pro­gram inviting four inter­na­tional artists, cura­tors, or researchers every year in the Villa’s studio. We col­lab­o­rate closely with museums and cura­tors to design tailor-made research pro­jects and bring inno­va­tive per­spec­tives, as illus­trated by the ongoing Marc Vaux pro­gram jointly led by Villa Vassilieff and Centre Pompidou’s Kandinsky Library.

Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research offers a space of col­lec­tive reflec­tion that com­bines both artistic and aca­demic prac­tices, and ques­tions the pro­duc­tion and dis­sem­i­na­tion of knowl­edge. We develop our activ­i­ties in a pro­cess-based, col­lab­o­ra­­tive, and dis­­cur­­sive manner, fol­lowing dif­ferent time spans, in coop­er­a­­tion with var­ious local, national, and inter­­na­­tional orga­ni­za­­­tions. Exhibitions are enriched by dif­ferent asso­­ci­ated events (work­shops, con­fer­­ences, per­­for­­mances, round table dis­­­cus­­sions…). We orga­nize sem­i­nars and work­shops in col­lab­o­ra­­tion with fac­ulty mem­bers from the Paris Diderot University. We lead off-site research pro­­jects in part­n­er­­ship with other insti­­tu­­tions, and offer res­i­­dency pro­­grams for researchers, artists, and cura­­tors.

Bétonsalon – Center for Art and Research is a non-profit orga­ni­za­tion estab­lished in Paris in 2003. Since 2007, Bétonsalon has been located on the campus of the Paris Diderot University. In 2016, we launched the Académie Vivante (Living Academy) pro­gram, an exper­i­mental research lab­o­ra­tory within the Epigenetics and Cell Fate unit (CNRS / Université Paris Diderot) that invites artists in res­i­dency.